Category: podcasts

Treedia Powers Motorola and Podcast.com Partnership

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Well, finally after a few months preparation, along with the rest of the development of podcast.com I can talk about the exciting news that podcast.com, powered by the system we call the Treedia Feed Management Platform is to be partnering with Motorola on delivering podcasts to their forthcoming smartphones, including the the MOTO Z8 ‘MotoRizr’.

We will be providing Motorola with a managed set of podcast directory folders which their applications can access and navigate the structure of through the use of OPML managed by the Treedia system. The current structure of the system and soon, more information will be available at motorola.podcast.com

The Treedia system’s name derives from the simple idea that any media can be distributed via RSS feeds held together by OPML directory folder structures which were easy to grow and manipulate.

It’s a tree of media. Treedia!

Through the use of very simple OPML files utilizing the ‘include’ type attribute, the Motorola application can drill down and list the podcasts on the device.

Soon, I will be providing a more thorough explanation of just how simple if is for anyone to create a way to navigate this data and also the power of networking available to social media networks, given easy tools to manage the data in a way we all understand already as computer users – folders. Of any ‘depth’.

And let’s not forget that RSS feeds and the like don’t have to ‘simply’ deliver podcasts. Audio or video. They could just as easily deliver updates on a multitude of things. Leveraging the awesome opportunity available to us thanks to OPML inclusion, we can begin to connect and share our appreciation of and presentation of our media in ways we haven’t even though of yet.

But they will all be connected by a ‘semantic path’ and also by the ‘curator’ of the folders and directories and their FOAF file, for example. Not only that, but each user will be able to share their playlists of what they are listening to at the time in a variety of formats, including RSS, XSPF and M3U.

Through these playlist formats and the OPML data available for each user (and each folder), it makes it easy for us to create simple widget user interfaces for just about any connected media platform there is. Simple and easy.

Naturally, users will be able to subscribe to each other’s playlists and folders. See when these change and are updated. All thanks to simple XML based technology.

I’m still wrapping up some loose ends and doing some long overdue bits of clean up on the site and documentations and tutorials, but soon we should be able to open up the doors to a limited amount of people to begin with, pretty soon!

Stay tuned! Stay subscribed! Much more exciting news to come! 🙂

Also in the news is the new next-generation RAZR-2 from Motorola.

feed, OPML, podcast.com, podcasts, rss

MY podcast.com on a PSP

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Here is something which we’ll be opening up soon, along with registrations to podcast.com!

When you get the chance to sign up at podcast.com, you’re effectively creating a podcast directory of your favourite podcast subscriptions. All those will be available to you on the main site using the existing interface – through http://my.podcast.com/kosso/ (for example)

BUT! You’ll also get to surf to my.podcast.com/kosso/psp on your Sony PSP to access yours and your friend’s subscriptions there. Mobile too – and more to come.

Notice the small image next to the logo – that’s my podcast.com profile image 😉

Cool!! Now that’s what I can portable media.
posted by kosso using NOKLOG : [permalink]

NOKLOG, podcast.com, podcasting, podcasts, rss

New Apple iPod Shuffle is NOT a podcast player?

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UPDATE : ‘Fixed’ Thanks to Diego! – but why not read on anyway. Then see the solution. And it’s a doozy. Nopodast Shuffle

OK. So I get a brand new iPod Shuffle out from its box, to use as a demo device to demonstrate podcast subscription etc. from the podcast.com site, as well as other sources of feeds. First I let it charge all night.

Then, once fully charged, I hooked it up to a brand new machine, with a brand new copy of the latest iTunes installed. When I hooked up the Shuffle, it said it needed a firmware update, which I did. Fine.

So, the first thing I do is add a podcast feed I already know about. iTunes adds that fine, then sets about downloading the latest episode. Coolio.

Now I have the podcast episodes download I want, I drag the podcast feed to the Shuffle icon, when it then sets about storing the downloaded podcasts onto the Shuffle. Hurrah!

When iTunes tells me that it’s safe to disconnect the iPod I do so, plug in my headphones to listen to my new fresh and lovely podcasts.

But wait!!! What’s this?? After hitting play, I see blinky lights!! Green – Orange – Green – Green for 2 seconds, which according to the little card which comes with the Shuffle means ‘No music on unit’ !!

Yes, yes I KNOW I have no music on there – I added podcasts (which iTunes correctly detected as such in the ID3 Genre tag as ‘Podcast’)

W.T.F!!! (Originally meaning – not Technorati’s ‘Where’s the Fire’ 🙂 )

OK. So, I tried to go to iTunes podcast section and add a podcast from there. Same process – same result. No Podcasts!!

Then I tried to add a music track. I imported it to iTunes, then dragged it to the Shuffle. It loads fine. Then I disconnected it and hit play. Hurrah! I hear music.

Next track? The same. Next? The same. Next, next, etc. IE: The shuffle still thinks it has only one track on it even though when it is plugged into iTunes, it can clearly see all the mp3 files there on it.

So what gives, Steve?

Are they distancing themselves from Podcasts? The Shuffle is NOT detecting the ‘Podcast’ genre in the ID3 tags by the look of it.

I also note that a recent firmware update on a Nano I have here (I have a Nano, a Video iPod and a Shuffle for testing purposes – so I too can feel the pain. Heh.) Apple have removed the menu option ‘Podcasts’ from the Music menu where it used to be. Now you can only get to your podcasts on a Nano by going to Music > Genres > Podcasts – where it is reading the ID3 tag to filter out Podcasts (though not all podcasters tags their MP3 files this way, as many ID3 writing apps still do not list ‘Podcast’ as a valid ID3 genre)

Can anyone out there shed any light as to what the f*uck is going on over there in sunny California? I’m really pissed off about this as I bought my brother one of these so he could listen to podcasts. Thanks Steve.

ps: I’m reading ‘iWoz’ – Steve Wozniak’s (who more or less invented the personal computer with keyboard and screen attached) autobiography. It’s great! I’d really like to meet him one day. He thinks like I do.

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ipod, mp3, podcast, podcasts

Podshow redirecting?

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Hmm.. All my web requests to anything dot podshow.com are being redirected to btpodshow.com

I know they have just done a deal with BT. But hiking the stats like that is a bit rum.

Is this just a UK thing BT are forcing them to do with IP address blocks (as the BBC do). If you are outside the UK, what happens when you try?

Also, I wish they’d fix up the OPML over on podcastalley. OPML lists of RSS feeds should have entries which are type=rss and the feed url is set to the xmlURL=  attribute 🙂

Expect to see some new OPML tools to manage lots of folders full of feeds in the very near future at podcast.com ;p

feeds, OPML, podcast, podcast.com, podcasting, podcasts, rss

Zune WILL have Podcasting.. Eventually

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According this post with a snippet from someone working on the Zune team for Microsoft, they will be adding support for podcasting.

Good idea!! Lets make sure it supports OPML (with inclusion), RSS feeds – and the manual adding of each of these.

As long as Microsoft listen to the community about the issues surrounding podcasting, then they’ll be a LOT further down the road than Apple could ever wish to be. Apple have proven they can make nice devices, but they are clearly not experts in the basic technology AND ‘openness’ around podcasting.

Nokia have a competent first stab at a podcasting app on their N91 and you can bet that other mobile manafacturers will be hot on their heels with their own applications.

podcasting, podcasts

An A-Z of Podcasts

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If you head on over to index.podcast.com , you will find a browsable A to Z index of all the podcasts in the podcast.com system.

Soon, you’ll be able to easily add feeds from this or the search (or anywhere!) to your own podcast directory and share the shows you like to listen to and organise them into feed folders, all with lovely OPML for you to build nice widgets out of 😉 – and we will to!

feeds, OPML, podcast, podcast.com, podcasting, podcasts

Libsyn Bought By Wizzard

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Wow! Congratulations to Libsyn!!! According to this, they have been bought by a company called Wizzard Software. (who I havent heard of – they do voice tech stuff- they also bought switchpod recently too?)

This must be great news for mah good buddies Dave, Dave and Marty!! Those guys have such great mojo and smarts and are a hoot to hang out with!! 🙂
Well done!!! You deserve it! 🙂

News, podcast, podcasting, podcasts

Portable Media Expo Day 1

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Woo. Well, after a few days over in Boston to hook up some more development firepower for the site and check out our great new offices in Cambridge, I am now right over the other side of the USA in Ontario California for the second Portable Media Expo.

LOADS of people here – and so many that I coulnd’t even get in to the first keynote from Leo Laporte. It’s a shame they have no ‘break-out’ screen to let thse who the fire marshall won’t let in be able to listen or watch.

So, I’m now sat here in the ballroom listening to the Ron Moore who produced the Battlestar Galactica podcasts. Pretty entertaining. Hey! Just realised I’m sat next to Don McAllister from ScreenCastsOnline, who I’ve met in London a few times. Small world. HUGE medium.

Looking forward to seeing the exhibits and networking with people I have either met before, or emailed in the past, Skyped with or never met at all.

No sign of Apple. Heh. 🙂

THERE IS NO i PODCAST !

podcast, podcast.com, podcasts, Uncategorized

How Microsoft could win the portable player game

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I think this looks like a great product.

I hope it can read an RSS feed directly over that WiFi (like a PSP can)! So I can download podcasts too, over the connection (like PSP can).

As well as wifi connectivity (for download) the killer app, for me, would be the ability to record AND upload too. This could be based on something like Nokias old uploader api (which was very easy to implement in any scripting language). Or a simple/simplified ftp client.

If they (MS) offered storage too, along with their desktop client/shop/aggregator based on the account, then they would have it all wrapped up.

Location agnostic consuming and publishing – desktop or mobile device – listening, viewing, subscribing etc. All synced up the next time the device links to the desktop. Full of real statistics, linkage and relevance.

Bingo! You’d have it all.

THEN if your reading AND writing/publishing tools support the core content and organisation XML standards for podcasts of RSS and OPML, PLUS additional support for microformats such as FOAF etc AND OTHER community APIS (though this could be done by any developer community or group of widgetwelders)

If Microsoft did this, they would win – imho

By ‘closing the content loop’ (by effectively flipping one end and connecting it to the other) – publish to receive : AND discover/navigate : subscribe , it would be like APple where things ‘seem’ to be locked in, they wuold have the opportunity to turn the whole network inside out, exposing all the data needed – all the ‘neural’ connections – all the paths, all the people and all the content.

This would ‘connect’ the owners of such devices to eachother, creating the community feel, but also prove they are not going to create a ‘walled garden’ of content – for devices that don’t know (much) about anything else.

[given that i am talking about ‘open’ podcasts here – user generated (argh) – as opposed to music/video/protected shopping/purchases with their own DRM.]

You don’t have to be able to read the ZUNESTONES to see it. Do you?
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ps: When are Google or Yahoo! going to produce a device? They should! 😉

pps: people who know me personally, will know that I am a huge love love and passionate user of gadgets. I have been on this crusade for a while. 😉

devices, feeds, gadgets, ideas, ipod, mp3, podcast, podcasts, rss
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